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Do you see N贸ra as an Irish name?

36 replies

lovebeingmuma · 05/08/2025 20:42

I want an Irish name and like N贸ra, Irish people help please 馃槉

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Needmorelego · 05/08/2025 20:47

Is it actually a different name to Nora (no accent thingy)?
I don't think of it as a particularly Irish name - but I actually don't know the origins.
It's just a fairly regular name to me (but nice - I like it).

Thanksman · 05/08/2025 20:48

How would you pronounce that?

ThePoliteLion · 05/08/2025 20:48

I鈥檓 not Irish.
i like Nora and I really like Orla.

Needmorelego · 05/08/2025 20:51

I googled.....Nora has apparently Anglo-Norman origins but also Hebrew origins.
Helpful there Wikipedia 馃槀
It said Nora with the accent (sorry I don't know how to get one one my phone) is "probably an Irish version".

Thanksman · 05/08/2025 20:54

Oh, it sounds nice with the accent:

The name "Nora" with an acute accent over the "o" (脫 or 贸) is pronounced like "Noh-rah" in Irish, but with a slightly more emphasized "o" sound, almost like "oo-rah" with a rolled "r". In English, it's typically pronounced as "NOH-ruh

Terrribletwos · 05/08/2025 20:55

I see it as quite old English actually .and quite old fashioned

Liondoesntsleepatnight · 05/08/2025 20:57

It鈥檚 Welsh in my head - but without the accent

deeahgwitch · 05/08/2025 20:57

I would have considered it an Irish name.
I wouldn鈥檛 bother with the fada.
The fada elongates the letter O and that isn鈥檛 needed with the name Nora.
I know quite a few Noras and none used a fada.

Liliwen · 05/08/2025 20:58

No, but I wouldn鈥檛 think of it as English with the accent. I would be concerned I would pronounce it wrong too

Needmorelego · 05/08/2025 20:58

@Thanksman I just said those two different ways to pronounce it out loud and I can't hear a difference at all 馃槀
To be honest I'd pronounce it as "Noor-rah".
Never heard "Noh" as a way to start the name.
All the Nora's I have known have pronounced their name "Noor-rah".

deeahgwitch · 05/08/2025 20:59

N贸ir铆n ( little Nora ) has 2 fadas 馃榾

DramaAlpaca · 05/08/2025 21:00

With the fada, yes I'd think of it as an Irish name.

However, in the UK the fada won't get used, but as it doesn't affect the pronunciation, maybe it won't matter.

British people won't see N贸ra/Nora as an Irish name, though. It will be seen as a vintage English name.

It's nice with Aoife (I was on your other thread).

PestoHoliday · 05/08/2025 21:01

Nor - ah

Twelftytwo · 05/08/2025 21:01

I didn't think of Nora as an Irish name until the news story about the teenager with learning disabilities who went missing and died on a family holiday to Malaysia 馃槥
So sad 馃槩
Sadly that's what comes to mind about the name now for me

angelinawasrobbed · 05/08/2025 21:02

Noreen

Thanksman · 05/08/2025 21:02

Needmorelego · 05/08/2025 20:58

@Thanksman I just said those two different ways to pronounce it out loud and I can't hear a difference at all 馃槀
To be honest I'd pronounce it as "Noor-rah".
Never heard "Noh" as a way to start the name.
All the Nora's I have known have pronounced their name "Noor-rah".

Edited

I did the same, lol. I actually like the pronunciation Noh-rah (with a bit of a roll on the rs!).

Lurina · 05/08/2025 21:23

I鈥檓 Irish and have never seen Nora used with a fada in Ireland myself. I thought it was short for Honora. (An older friend called Nora had Honora on her birth cert, so it was a short version of that at least sometimes.)

SunnyPrague · 05/08/2025 21:26

Lovely name!

CremeEggThief · 05/08/2025 21:30

Not as an Irish origin name, but as a name that has always been well used in Ireland in my lifetime. I know of Noras in their 90s and a couple under 10 in Ireland.

Moreteaandchocolate · 05/08/2025 21:31

I like it (prefer without the fada) - I didn鈥檛 realise it had Irish origins.

EleanorMc67 · 05/08/2025 21:44

I'm Irish. It's not really thought of as an Irish name, no. The English name Honora became spelt On贸ra in Ireland when it arrived, & if then shortened it became Nora (with or without a fada). If you're really stuck on an Irish name, I'd choose something else.

ForPearlViper · 05/08/2025 22:08

EleanorMc67 · 05/08/2025 21:44

I'm Irish. It's not really thought of as an Irish name, no. The English name Honora became spelt On贸ra in Ireland when it arrived, & if then shortened it became Nora (with or without a fada). If you're really stuck on an Irish name, I'd choose something else.

I think it might be the other way round and it was an anglicanistion of an Irish name. I do know in West Cork variations on Honora was extremely common in the 1800s. Most of the common names in official records are anglicisations at that time. Many of the anglicisations were really random.

Thanksman · 05/08/2025 22:12

EleanorMc67 · 05/08/2025 21:44

I'm Irish. It's not really thought of as an Irish name, no. The English name Honora became spelt On贸ra in Ireland when it arrived, & if then shortened it became Nora (with or without a fada). If you're really stuck on an Irish name, I'd choose something else.

I love the name Nuala. Not sure if it has a fada.

Lurina · 05/08/2025 23:46

ForPearlViper · 05/08/2025 22:08

I think it might be the other way round and it was an anglicanistion of an Irish name. I do know in West Cork variations on Honora was extremely common in the 1800s. Most of the common names in official records are anglicisations at that time. Many of the anglicisations were really random.

No, I don鈥檛 think it was from Irish originally. It came to Ireland with the Normans and was adopted like many other names. Some information here which is interesting I think.
enchantednames.wordpress.com/2021/05/18/honora/

4catsaremylife · 06/08/2025 00:10

I see Norah as Irish because it was my grandma's name and she was from Dublin 馃檪 I loved her unconditionally and still miss her decades after she died